Wtf Is A Penit?
The Fountainebleau Penit,circa 1980s. image courtesy of MARLEMiami, despite all the overdeveloped, overpriced real estate, chaotic tourism and vice-full imagery for sale, is a city with a respectable graffiti culture and a notable history of graffiti.
Many graffiti writers/crews from Miami have made major contributions to the worldwide graffiti movement. So much so, Miami is home to a museum that solely focuses on graffiti and its history. One contribution that stands out in particular, does not relate to the tools of the trade nor is it of visual or stylistic significance, but a term.
There are many graffiti terms, most originating from New York and Philly, but Miami has coined its own term- “Penit”; also written “Pennant” or “Penet”. The term was created around the mid-to-late 1980’s. Due to Miami’s very different landscape/infrastructure from that of New York’s, graff writers in Miami had to adapt. Instead of subway systems, or train yards, Miami is home to a plethora of warehouses and housing developments, which are constantly being constructed and demolished. Around 1983, construction of a building began in the Fontainebleau neighborhood in Doral. No one seems to truly know why, but the construction was halted and the building was left abandoned. As a result of this abandonment, a massive, partially constructed concrete structure sat in an overgrown field. For whatever reason, the general consensus was that the building was supposed to be a penitentiary, but this was just speculation. Because of this penitentiary theory, we got the term “Penit”, short for penitentiary. This would be the first of many buildings in Miami to be called a “Penit”. The Fontainebleau Penit was a hangout for teenagers, gangs, graffiti writers, or anyone that liked to trespass. It was a perfect place to practice letters/characters, share techniques, meet with your crew, or to just see graffiti. The penit was more laidback compared to painting on the streets. The arrival of the legendary graffiti book “Subway Art” to Miami’s public library system in the mid 80s changed the graffiti game in Miami, and the Fountainebleau penit becoming abandoned around the same time was the perfect equation for a graff surge. Graff writers started to do more in-depth pieces (called “burners”), since one had more time to paint without any harassment. The Fontainebleau Penit had many prominent Miami writers and crews painting it up until the early- to mid 90’s. With that being said, The Fountainebleau Penit, like any penit, had its fair amount of randomness. Gathering information from photos, oral histories I conducted a year go with the people who had the opportunity of contributing to the history of the penit, and written accounts, Fountainbleau had gang graffiti, ‘toy’ graffiti, and even religious graffiti (the penit is infamous for having a massive cross spraypainted on its facade with the phrase “Jesus Christ, Lord King Over Miami”).
After the popularity of hanging out and painting in a penit, graff writers started their search for others. Eventually other abandoned buildings in Miami started to become penits. The term was slapped on to the end of whatever the building was thought to be, what the building was, or the area it was located. An example- “Hialeah Penit” (1989-2003), an abandoned building that was located in the city of Hialeah, or the “RC Cola Penit”(circa 1993-circa 2010), the old RC Cola plant in Wynwood was a penit after its abandonment in 1993 and before it was bought and turned into a venue by Mana.
MERO, MEEN, and MICRO “Cocaine” Burner, circa 1986Fountainebleau Penit was eventually demolished circa 1994 and is now the site of a housing development.
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